On May 20-21, 2021, the city of Kazan hosted the Central Asian Conference of the Valdai Discussion Club, titled “Russia and Central Asia Facing the Challenges of the New World — A Joint Path to the Future.” Participants in the final session, open for the media and the general public, will discuss the future of relations between Russia and the Central Asian countries.
Russia’s relations with its closest neighbours have always been among its foreign policy priorities; now they are closely linked to Russian priorities in domestic policy. Over the past 30 years, since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia and the countries of Central Asia have come a long way in establishing statehood and defining their place in regional and international affairs. Today we can say surely say that Russia and the Central Asian “five” are connected not only by their Soviet past, but also by their common present, created by joint efforts within the EAEU, CSTO, SCO and CIS, as well as through bilateral tracks.
At the end of the year, the Valdai Discussion Club will release a report on Russian policy towards the post-Soviet space over the past 30 years. The Kazan conference will serve as one of the key intellectual sources for this scientific work.